The Movement, Activity and Sport Sector
There are an estimated 400+ organisations across North Yorkshire and York that have a core workforce of people who in their daily lives help residents move, be active and participate in sport. They are a mix of 40-50,000 paid and volunteer staff working in roles such as instruction, coaching, personal training, group exercise, outdoor activity leadership, teaching (e.g. swimming), facility operations (e.g. lifeguard), sports development and different types of manager. Many of these people know why they have decided to get a job, or forge a career in the sector, and it is vital that we continue to ensure we recruit, develop, progress and retain their talent in the coming 5 years.
But we also know there are many people in occupational roles every day that could – with support, education, training and experiential learning – become even more equipped and confident to embed movement into the way they work with others, whether in education, health, care, wellbeing community and workplace settings. We need to galvanise this joint cross-sector workforce to get North Yorkshire & York moving.
The Workforce Development Project
The Movement, Activity and Sport sector workforce development project started in 2024. It has been designed to enhance the workforce in North Yorkshire and York between 2025 and 2030 so that it can intentionally contribute towards improved health outcomes and reduced health inequalities across our communities and varied contexts.
The Framework for Action
The Framework is built around 4 interlinked pillars of thematic action: Attract, Develop, Progress and Retain. Task and Finish Groups have convened in 2025 to identify and prioritise appropriate practical actions that could be developed within and across sectors to make a meaningful difference in North Yorkshire & York.
Action Plan
The Movement, Activity and Sport Workforce Development Action Plan is now complete.
It has involved multiple strands of work engaging over 150 people in 2025 and 2026.
The complete 200 slide plan, with all underpinning research, evidence, review of the education and training landscape and place based working can be downloaded below
Click here to download the plan.
We have also made this information available in more manageable chunks so that you can dip in and out of the topics that interest you most.